In the Spotlight
By Guest Contributor May. 30, 2024
Guest post by Joe Hoft at JoeHoft.com– republished with permission
In early May the Republican Party of Florida held a back-door vote for key positions in the party selected by GOP party elites.
Grassroot Republicans who support President Trump were shunned. The implications of this vote could derail the 2024 Presidential Election.
The following comes from Kat’s Meow Substack account. It’s a discussion of recent events in the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF).
This particular move has the distinct odor of sneaky, back-room stuff. We were made aware of it by their latest victim.
As the RPOF chose their national delegates this past week, they managed to cut out a long-time party regular, RPOF National Committeeman, Peter Feaman, from meaningful committee assignments. His crime? He supports grassroots conservatives and Donald Trump.
Here is Mr. Feaman’s message about what went down, released Thurs., May 16.
“As an RPOF leader I thought you should be aware of what happened last week.
Now that we have chosen our Florida convention delegates, Republican National Committee (RNC) Rule 41 requires that all of the delegates meet in order to elect individuals to serve on the convention committees, including the Rules Committee and the all-important PLATFORM COMMITTEE.
Last week, your RPOF had its so called “election”. Except that there was no real election. There was a rubber-stamp of committee members pre-selected by an unknown cabal.
-HERE IS HOW IT WENT DOWN-
Last Tuesday, May 7, I had a phone conversation with Evan Power. In that conversation he made no mention of any upcoming Delegate phone call. I told him I was in Hawaii visiting family which is why I missed this past quarterly meeting. That is why I was very surprised to receive later on that same day an email announcing a telephone call for all delegates set for the following day at 6:00 pm. (Wednesday, May 8), less than 24 hours away. There was no mention in that email that there would be an “election” of committee members to be held during the call. I sent an email to Evan asking for an agenda for the telephone meeting, especially since we had just spoken and he knew I was in Hawaii, and he said nothing about a call the next day. I received no reply from Evan or anyone else.
The next day we received a reminder email about the call from Bill Helmich. The email mentioned only that the call was necessary for “some quick bookkeeping and information.” In hindsight, that description was purposefully misleading.
I then sent an email to Helmich asking him for an agenda. Again, I received no reply.
Then, less than 15 minutes before the phone conference the bombshell email arrived. The email said the phone conference would include “selection” of convention committee members “who have agreed to serve.” To my surprise, the list of pre-selected committee members was included.
This was not to be an election, as specifically required by RNC Rule 41. This call was meant to be a rubber-stamp of members already SECRETLY CHOSEN by the elites.
Imagine my surprise when I saw Kevin Cabrera as the male platform committee designee, (each convention committee must consist of one male and one female from each state). This was the same person who, only 3 months before, had failed in his bid to be RPOF Vice-Chairman. The Platform Committee will write the RNC Platform for the next 4 years.
Imagine my surprise when I saw Evan Power as the male representative on the Rules Committee. After having served for 12 years on the RNC Rules Committee and having served on the 2016 Convention Rules Committee, when we successfully fought off the Never-Trumpers, I naively thought I would be informed at some point about this.
RNC Rule 41 specifically requires an election by the convention delegation so that the convention committee members represent the majority consensus of each state’s convention delegation. Our delegation had no say other than to rubber-stamp those pre-selected.
After 20 years of leadership on the RPOF Executive Committee, one would think I should not have been so naïve as to think the Republican Party of Florida leadership would actually follow the RNC rules. Silly me.
Peter M. Feaman
RNC National Committeeman, Florida
2012-2024”
The message is very clear. NO ONE,even party regulars, WHO SUPPORTS GRASS ROOTS CONSERVATIVES – WHO HAPPEN TO SUPPORT DONALD TRUMP – IS WELCOME IN THE RPOF. I am guessing that Mr. Feaman had a clue about this when he tried to become the Party Chair.
Initial concerns from members of another Republican group in Florida – The Florida Republican Assembly (FRA) – were that the RPOF wanted to shut them down. After stepping back for a moment, it’s now feared that the actions of the RPOF in placing anti-Trumpers on National Convention committees is to derail President Trump’s RNC nomination.
Are the party elites in the RNC working with Democrats in derailing the people’s choice for 2024 – President Donald Trump?
Meme by Sharmini Jayawardena
